What are you doing about growing cyberattacks?

Every federal IT professional is faced with the problem of cyberattacks. The problem is getting worse, according to a USA Today analysis, and you can't just ignore them. The newspaper analyzed data provided by the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT). It found that the number of hostile attacks rose 40 percent over 2007. In 2007, there were 3,928 attacks. In 2008, there were 5,488 attacks.

"Government systems are under constant attack," says Joel Brenner, counterintelligence chief in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. "We're seeing...a dramatic, consistent increase in cyber crime (and) intelligence activities."

Major attacks occurred at the following departments' websites: Defense, State, Homeland Security and Commerce, according to one government report.

"The damage from cyberattack is real," says the report, issued by the Center for Strategic and International Studies with Reps. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas.

The attackers come from many parts of the world, according to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair. Many of the culprits are from China and Russia, as well as criminal groups and individuals who may want to unravel power or financial systems.

For more on growing cyberattacks:
- check out this USA Today article

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